


Irreplaceable

by SailorChibi



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Blushing, F/M, Identity Reveal, Protective Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Reveal, Secret Identity Reveal, So much blushing, adrien agreste deserves compliments, chat noir is not a sidekick, flustered marinette, marinette will kick your ass to prove it, mild spoilers for Heroes Day, post-heroes day, seriously i'm identity reveal trash and i make no apologies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 20:29:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16625897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Following Heroes Day, throw together an identity reveal, a Chloé that goes a step too far in her bragging by putting Chat Noir down, and a Marinette that is at the end of her rope becauseChat Noir is not a sidekick goddamnit, and you get this: Marinette being adamant that Ladybug loves Chat Noir in front of the whole class... including Adrien.





	Irreplaceable

Marinette looked sadly at the lunch that her maman had prepared for her. She had just gotten it unpacked, and hadn’t even had the chance to take a bite of her sandwich yet. Tikki had literally just broken off a little piece of cookie and was just about to pop it into her mouth. Kwami and girl exchanged looks, and for a split second Marinette was seriously tempted to just… not move.

But then reality kicked in, and she sighed and gathered everything back into her bag. Hawkmoth hadn't sent any akumas out for the past week, which was a new record. She was just beginning to think that she and Chat Noir had really knocked him for a loop on Heroes Day, and that maybe Hawkmoth had reconsidered what he was doing - but no. The screaming that was coming from the street suggested Hawkmoth was alive and kicking.

She found a quiet place to hide, stashed her bag and transformed. Ladybug went on to confront the akuma and was quickly joined by her partner. She and Chat Noir defeated the akuma pretty quickly, all things considered, and she was actually feeling proud of herself as she slipped into the locker room to de-transform. That feeling of pride lasted right up until she happened to turn around just in time to see Chat Noir's transformation ending.

Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng stared at each other.

The bell rang. Kids flooded into the locker room and it was like the spell was suddenly broken. Marinette took her chance and fled, the image of Chat Noir turning into her classmate burned into her brain. Her heart was pounding and she wanted to slam her head into the nearest wall. How could she have missed this? How could her partner have been so close without her knowledge?!

Tempting though it was to leave, she couldn’t afford to miss any more class. Marinette found her way back to her classroom and entered. Adrien wasn't there, thank good. She scuttled over to her seat and sat, then leaned over and let her forehead thud against the desk.

Chat Noir was Adrien Agreste.

"I'm telling you, did you see what happened out there? If Queen Bee had been a part of that, the fight would've gone _much_ smoother."

Marinette had to bite her lip to muffle her annoyed groan. She didn't have the capacity to deal with this right now, on top of what she'd just learned. She settled for hissing, "Don't tell me she's started up again."

Alya sighed loudly. "She's been extolling the virtues of Queen Bee since we made it back." Her expression was one of pure grouchiness. Marinette patted her friend's hand sympathetically, deliberately not looking forward as Adrien and Nino took their seats in front of them.

Adrien was Chat Noir. 

She was too aware of his proximity. Was he looking at her? This was too much.

"It looks to me like Ladybug and Chat Noir did just fine on their own," Alix said.

Chloé scoffed. "Please. I would be a much better partner for Ladybug."

Wait. What?

"What?" Alya said, echoing Marinette's thoughts. "Are you crazy? Ladybug and Chat Noir are partners. You could be Queen Bee for a thousand years and never match up to either one of them."

"Says you," Chloé said. She held up her phone. It was the same photo she'd been flaunting in their faces for the past week. Someone had gotten a photo of Queen Bee's stinger knocking an akuma away from Ladybug. Marinette remembered that moment well; another akuma had snuck up on her when she was trying to deal with Dark Cupid. She regretted the friendly wave she’d given to Queen Bee after.

"See this? Where was Chat Noir during this when Ladybug needed help?"

Marinette set her jaw. From what she remembered, Chat Noir had been dealing with three different akumas on the other side of the battle. He’d been fighting to get closer to her, and she to him, but there’d been so many akumas that even with the extra help from Queen Bee, Carapace and Rena Rouge, they’d been overwhelmed. But she couldn't just _say_ that.

"Without Queen Bee, Ladybug would've been hit by that attack and then everything would've been over before it even began! And he didn't even want to give me my Miraculous! I'm telling you, Ladybug should really drop the dead weight and change partners. I could -"

WHAM.

The sound of Marinette's hand slamming against the desk made everyone jump. Marinette stood up, fisting her hands to keep them from visibly shaking in anger. "Chloé, you need to shut up right now."

"You can't tell me to -"

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are partners," Marinette said, cutting Chloé off. " _Real_ partners. They would die for each other. He's not a sidekick, and he is most definitely _NOT_ dead weight. If it weren't for Chat Noir, Ladybug would've given up a long time ago. He's the person who keeps her going. He believes in her and that's why she can do what she does. Ladybug is _nothing_ without him."

Everyone was staring at her. Chloé's mouth was hanging open a little, but she recovered quickly. "Please. You really think that Ladybug cares about him?"

"She loves him," Marinette snapped, and heard a quiet sound of surprise from in front of her. She froze and slowly turned her head, meeting Adrien's wide eyes. 

Oops.

Fortunately, Ms. Bustier came in before Adrien or Chloé could say anything else and began class. Marinette sank back into her seat, face red, and was infinitely grateful that she couldn't see Adrien's face from their seats. She didn't want to know what he was thinking right now. She kind of wished that she'd faked being sick and gone home for the rest of the day instead of coming back to class, absences be damned.

The afternoon dragged on. Marinette couldn’t have said what they learned. All she knew was that the second the bell rang, Adrien whipped around.

“Marinette, could you stay? I want to talk to you.”

“Yes!” Alya said before Marinette could say anything. “Yes, she can totally stay.” She grinned and winked at Marinette, clearly thinking she was doing Marinette a huge favor. 

“I should really…” Marinette’s voice trailed off in the wake of the puppy – no, kitten eyes Adrien was giving her. Crap. She slunk down in her seat and nodded reluctantly. The look of relief on Adrien’s face was so profound that it hurt. Why was she cursed with such an adorable partner?

They waited in tense silence while the rest of the students filed out. Alya gave her two thumbs up on the way out and mouthed the words ‘call me tonight!’ before Nino grabbed her by the shoulders and gently but firmly guided his girlfriend out of the room. Then he reached back and closed the door, which was a move that Marinette appreciated. This was not a conversation she wanted anyone to overhear.

“Was that true?” Adrien asked in a small voice, breaking the silence, and Marinette looked up to see that he was still turned around to face her, but that he was staring at the ground.

Marinette couldn’t bring herself to say no. Her face grew hot. “W-which part?”

“You don’t think I’m a sidekick?” he clarified.

Oh, Adrien. She leaned forward, putting a hand on his shoulder. His head snapped up. She met his gaze. “You’re not a sidekick, _mon minou_. You’re my partner. I wasn’t lying; do you know how many times I would’ve given up if it weren’t for you?”

He didn’t look like he believed her. “You’re always so confident as Ladybug.”

“Yeah, because of you,” Marinette said. For a moment, she forgot all about the fact that their identities were no longer secret and just spoke to her partner from her heart. “From day one, you’ve been at my side giving me that confidence. I’m only Ladybug because you believe in me. Even last week, when we were trapped in the sewers, you don’t know how many doubts I was having after the others fell under the influence of Hawkmoth. But you kept me going. Your belief in the two of us made me not want to give up. You’re the most important person in my life. Without you, I couldn’t be Ladybug.”

Adrien’s eyes were wide. Marinette suddenly remembered who she was talking to and blushed so hard that even her hands turned red. She snatched her hand away from his shoulder, mortified.

“I-I-I m-mean, you-you –” she stammered.

“Thank you,” Adrien said, mercifully cutting her off before she could say something even more embarrassing. “I needed to hear that. You’re the most important person to me too, Marinette.” He smiled and her heart skipped a beat. “The time we spend together is the only time I feel free. I meant what I said last week; you’re a daytime superhero and I really admire that.”

Marinette squeaked in response, but couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Adrien’s kind words from that day were burned into her heart, and she’d re-played them dozens of times already. It made her realize that maybe Adrien _could_ see _her_ , just plain Marinette, and not just Ladybug now that he knew the truth. She’d always tormented herself with the thought that Chat Noir would never care for the girl under the mask, but maybe…

“Do you…” Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat. “Would you, uh, like to get a coffee with me?” A sense of pride shot through her. She’d asked Adrien out! And okay, maybe she’d only done it because she knew he was her partner and there was a sense of ease about them now, but still!

His whole face lit up like she’d just handed him a platter of cookies. “I would love to.”

“Great,” Marinette said, beaming. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad. Even putting aside that Chat Noir was Adrien, she found that she liked the idea of spending time with her partner outside the suit. 

She stood up and picked up her bag, catching a glimpse of Tikki’s excited grin. Marinette grinned back, pleased to know that Tikki wasn’t angry at her for having let the secret out, and zipped the bag shut. Maybe later she’d get the chance to introduce Tikki to Adrien, and to meet Adrien’s kwami. She was pretty sure Tikki would love Adrien as much as Marinette did. 

Suddenly, she remembered something else Chloé had said. “ _Chaton_?”

“Yes, My Lady?” He looked over at her as he stood, and Marinette blushed. Wow, hearing that nickname and knowing it was coming out of Adrien’s mouth was going to take some getting used to. She’d always assumed that Chat Noir was joking when he used those nicknames at first, and that now he used them because he was a flirt and that was just what they did. Now, she was thinking there was a lot more impact behind them. Maybe he’d really meant them all along. That was something she needed to think about.

She summoned what remained of her courage and said something she should have said a long time ago: “I don’t want another partner. It doesn’t matter to me if someday Master Fu decides that Queen Bee, Carapace and Rena Rouge should join us permanently. Ladybug and Chat Noir are two halves of a whole. No one will _ever_ replace you.”

Adrien blushed, tilting his head slightly in a move that was intimately familiar to her because she’d seen Chat Noir do it a million times. How had she never connected the dots before? She stared at him in fascination, watching as the blush deepened into a shade that almost matched her suit. She’d never seen Adrien so flustered, but she’d seen Chat Noir get like this sometimes – usually whenever Ladybug flirted back. It had always been adorable, and it was even more so now that she had a better grasp of the reasoning behind it.

Knowing what she did of Adrien’s background, she guessed that he probably didn’t hear that he was irreplaceable very often, if ever. Which was crap, because both Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste were just that. She couldn’t imagine her life without either one of them. And now, knowing that the two of them were actually one and the same just made him all the more valuable to her. Her partner and her crush. 

Marinette really was the luckiest girl ever. 

“Uh… hey?” Adrien said uncertainly. “Are you okay? You’re staring at me really intensely.”

“I thought you’d be used to people staring at you,” Marinette said, realizing that she was probably bordering on being rude with her staring. She looked away and picked up her bag, slinging it across her back.

Adrien huffed a laugh. “That’s… that’s different,” he said quietly. “People who look at Chat Noir or at Adrien Agreste the teen model don’t know me. But you… you know me probably better than anyone.”

“Even Nino?” Marinette said, and he nodded.

That was… flattering, yes, but kind of sad. Yes, she loved her partner, and she trusted him with her life. But she’d never known as much as she could have about his likes or dislikes, his hobbies, his interests. She didn’t even know his favorite color. She hadn’t wanted to know, too afraid of what lines more information might make them cross. And while there’d been no such fears with their civilian selves, she realized that she really only knew superficial things about Adrien. Her crush had always stood in the way of them getting to be better friends than they were. She rightfully blamed herself for that. 

Right then and there, Marinette resolved to get to know everything there was to know about this boy. So that at least when he said she was the person who knew him best, she could feel a sense of pride as opposed to this lingering sense of shame and guilt – because Ladybug and Marinette (Maribug?) had always been the ones who put up that barrier, not Chat Noir and Adrien (Chatrien?), and it was high time it came down.

“Well, you better get used to it,” she said. “My new favorite game is going to be figuring out all the sides of my partner.”

“Sounds like a fun game,” Adrien said, his eyes twinkling. “I’m down for that.”

Marinette grinned at him. “I thought you might be.” She walked down the steps, her heart fluttering in her chest. In retrospect, it seemed silly to have been so worried about finding out Chat Noir’s identity. It couldn’t have gone any better! She would probably freak out a lot later, but for the time being she felt good.

“Hey, Mari?” Adrien said from behind her.

Marinette turned, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of huge smile on Adrien’s face. His eyes were sparkling, teeth showing, skin crinkling. It was Chat Noir’s smile, she realized, the one he only gave when he was genuinely happy. Even as Ladybug, she didn’t get the chance to see it often. And she’d never seen it from Adrien – he was usually so reserved and quiet. She couldn’t breathe.

“No one will ever replace you either,” Adrien said gently. “I love you too.”

She squeaked again, the only sound she felt capable of making. Somehow, Adrien’s smile broadened. He moved closer and took her hand, giving her a quick glance to make sure that was okay. Marinette was pretty sure her head was going to explode, but at least her instincts kicked in and she tightened her grip before he could pull away. Personal space had long since been a forgotten concept between Ladybug and Chat Noir; the last thing she wanted was for Adrien to think that would be any different outside the mask.

“Coffee?” Adrien said, gesturing to the door, and she nodded weakly, still captivated by his smile.

This boy was going to kill her, but what a way to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
